Joe Campanale

Joe Campanale is a renowned sommelier, restaurant operator and wine expert. After co-founding several wine-focused concepts with the West Village-based Epicurean Group (dell’anima, L’Artusi and natural wine bar, Anfora), Joe branched out on his own in 2017 to open Fausto in the former Franny’s location in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Immediately after, Jon Bonne named Fausto’s wine program “one of the country’s most exciting” and the restaurant has received numerous accolades from Eater, New York Magazine, The Infatuation, Time Out New York and Travel + Leisure, among others. Following Fausto’s immediate success, Campanale opened LaLou, a neighborhood wine bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn with a focus on natural wines from France, Eastern Europe, Spain and Austria. In January 2020, Joe was included in Eater’s New Guard, “the chefs and restaurateurs defining the next generation of dining.” Campanale produces a line of natural wines in Italy under the label Annona and is a regular participant in the New York Times Tasting Panel led by Chief Wine Critic Eric Asimov. He has been named a Food & Wine Magazine “Sommelier of the Year” and has been featured on numerous “30 under 30” lists, including Forbes and Zagat and was later listed as one of Wine Enthusiast’s “40 under 40.” He has written about wine for various media outlets. He has also hosted more than 250 episodes of his wine-focused podcast “In the Drink” and is an avid marathon runner.